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What do you think of Orko's bio?

After the last Roast Gobble Dinner 22, the bio of Orko was a lot discussed and it seems (to me) the community is divided into those that think Orko "is killed" by this MOTUC bio and those that think this bio is good or great.

After the rise of the Horde Empire, evil again outweighed the forces of good in the five dimensions. So in every generation a Cosmic Warrior was recruited by the Overlords of Trolla™ to fight against evil. Each was given the Sword of He, a weapon infused with the Power of the Universe. They were also assigned a Trollan guide to watch over and advise them in their quests. On the planet of Eternia®, after five centuries of being split in two, the Trollan Power Sword® was at long last joined and bequeathed to an heir worthy of its power — Prince Adam® of the royal household. Orko®, a member of the Trollan magical elite, was assigned to watch over Adam. Although he was a powerful mage on Trolla®, the hidden mystic properties of Eternia® turned his magiks into little more than entertaining tricks, which he uses to entertain his friends and remain undercover.

I'm one of those fans who didn't like him in Filmation because he was the little kid character. MYP "handled him better" by reducing his role and making him more clever and effective with low level spells, but he was even more annoying with even less screentime. So any improvement would have been much welcome...

...until this bio seemingly goes too far.

We can't see how Orko being a "watcher" who pretends to be a goof works in this new canon without seeing it in action.

I’m ok with the idea of seeing Orko as a secret observer and I think I rather like this Bio even if some questions remains that could change my point of view.

Indeed, if the overlords of Trolla recruit a cosmic warrior and give him the sword of "he" then what is the role of the castle grayskull and the sorceress?

Do the overlords of Trolla have a problem that prevent them or another Trollan to claim for the sword back when "the heir" is no more? That wouldn’t explain the role of the sorceress and of the castlegrayskull…

I love Orko(at least non-MYP Orko) but I'm not a fan of this bio. I can handle him being a Trollan guide for the latest "He-man" but I can't get past the last line "remain undercover". It makes him sound like Dr. Smith from Lost In Space where he is just looking for an attempt to defeat the family he is spending time with.

Couldn't they have said that Orko is young & inexperienced as a guide but rose through the Trollan ranks due to his knowledge of magic? They could have said the reason his magic always screws up was due to something happening during his transportation from Trolla to Eternia(maybe Evil-Lyn or Skeletor had something to do with it). Prince Adam grew to love his new friend so much, he refused to see him replaced with a Trollan whose powers weren't all screwy. That would have kept Orko being young with faulty powers but would also have kept him as someone who was competent and on Eternia for a reason. Making him a secret spy makes him untrustworthy and unlikable in my book.

I don't like the idea of Orko being a secret spy at all (though I do think the mythology needs a spy type character, and it would be oh so easy to write in Double Trouble that She-Ra enlisted her to keep tabs on the Horde once they all make the jump to Eternia)...

but for Orko being the spy/secret agent... all I can think of is Maxwell Smart.

I'm not opposed to the idea of a new take on an existing character; for example, I really enjoyed Transformers Animated and GI Joe Resolute. But in my opinion, the Classics canon was not the place to introduce this new incarnation of Orko.

The Classics toyline is essentially an enhanced version of the original, so the characters personalities should be left as we remember them. The Classics Orko figure is clearly based on his vintage look, so he should have retained his vintage personality.

Hasbro had the right idea with their 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe toyline - update the toys, but don't mess with the characters.

This bio makes him seem SOMEWHAT compatent... and it's a nice attempt... but I don't know. It still doesn't make me 'like him'. You can only go so far to make a lame character cool, before you completly loose the character.

It reminds a bit of Bay's transformers... they do everything they can to make bumblebee cool... but then he ceases to be bumblebee...

That character on the big screen?? That wasn't bumblebee... that was Hotrod!

I would have liked to see some mention of his medallion/tar swamp story where he first meets Adam. But overall, I think the bio is pretty good.

I really like that it finally gives Orko some real importance, as I've always felt Orko is worthy of more credit than he usually receives.

I also really like the "remain undercover" part of his bio. I don't see it as suggesting that he's some type of spy, like others have suggested in this thread. I believe it simply means that Orko takes the appropriate measures to make sure Skeletor and other credible threats never realize his importance. I think that's a really nice touch.

"Oh Lord, Bless this M&M... and the mighty cockroach I slain in battle to get it." - Al Bundy

[Although he was a powerful mage on Trolla®, the hidden mystic properties of Eternia® turned his magiks into little more than entertaining tricks, which he uses to entertain his friends and remain undercover.[/I]

Orko is now Nibbler from Futurama?

I don't know- I would have to see this version in action to decide if I like the idea.

I like the spy aspect, but I agree it makes him a bit of a loose cannon. It'd be interesting to see where his loyalities are when things get rough.

But I don't like the Trollan Power Sword and "Overlords of Trolla" stuff at all. To me the source of the power of Castle Grayskull will always be the bottomless Abyss that is located at the Center of the Universe. No need for any extra explanations.

Heidi

"The most difficult thing is trying not to forget who you really want to be." - Nong Toom

I LOOOOOVE it, but I'm a big Bio-Fan, anyhow. ...I really need to update the Narrative, huh? It has been so darn busy in real life lately...Bah!

Not to sound like a creepy cheerleader for Uki, but it's nice to know there is at least one person on this forum who is extremely positive & friendly all the time. I don't think I could be that nice even if you paid me. If we ever give out awards for "forum member of the month", Uki gets my vote. -Mr. Shokoti

I like it! I think it does elevate Orko a bit, and it makes sense. The reason it makes sense is this:

On Trolla, Orko is the most powerful mage of all. He's the defender of the Crimson Council and the Champion of Trolla! He's got the nick-name "Orko the great" even! He's basically the trollan variant of a... He-man, really. So why wouldn't he be chosen by the Crimson Council to make sure the power of the Universe is in the right hands?

I think he can still have a personality similar to the Orko we all know and love, yet also have a serious side, that comes out now and then, because of his heroic nature in Trolla.

I think this new bio works if you think of it as merely an "origin" for Orko, or as a fixed point in the MOTU timeline. I'm sure that for Orko, it started off as just a duty to spy on Adam, but as time went on, and he formed relationships with characters like Man-At-Arms, Cringer and of course, Adam, that he became emotionally attached to them and stopped thinking of it as a duty to his Trollan Overlords to watch over Adam, and started doing it because he thought of Adam and the others as "family".

I think its a great bio. It makes Orko into an interesting character, rather than a throw-away character alla Jar Jar Binks. We have already learned that the Trollan's are a race of very powerful magic-users that have their eye out for the protection of the universe; even Zodac's bio hints that they believe in a force for neutrality, so sending an emissary to keep an eye out on some of the most powerful things in the universe (Grayskull, and powersword) seems like the competent thing to do. And what better way to hide than in plain sight?